With this weekend’s upcoming LSAT exam sure to draw a significant number of test-takers, a blog post has raised the important, timely and oft-confused issue of how law schools actually intake and interpret LSAT scores.
Discussed recently by Most Strongly Supported, the blog indicates that, in the past, law schools used the average of all LSAT scores in weighing admission. However, following a change in ABA data collection and the use of this data in the US News & World Report rankings, most schools have altered their policy and now look at an applicant’s highest LSAT score.
Contends the post’s author, Trent Teti: “It’s a bit ironic. Schools rank you according to your LSAT score, and it turns out that they themselves are also ranked according to your score.”
With this thought process in mind, MSS reached out to a number of leading law schools to gauge their application LSAT considerations, and received mixed results. For instance, according to the blog, Northwestern claimed to consider highest scores, NYU claimed to consider average scores and some schools, like Columbia, were noncommittal or said they prefer to look at “a candidate’s entire LSAT history.”
In our own research, we’ve also found a similar relative vagueness, as most schools now take the highest LSAT score but will also factor in significant score disparities.
To read the MSS post and what the blog recommends for LSAT takers given this informal study, please click here. For more research on how schools weigh LSAT scores, we suggest Top-Law-Schools.com as another resource, though the safest way to ensure updated data is naturally to contact schools as you consider the admissions process.
